Jerred's Price by Joanna Wylde Read Free Book Online Page B

servants to wash our hands for us, and I’ll have to bring out each course…”
    She burst out laughing again, and sat down. He sat across from her, watching her face as she took a sip of the wine. Her eyes closed and she moaned in appreciation.
    “What is this?” she muttered. “I’ve never tasted anything like it. It’s amazing.”
    “It’s the Emperor’s private reserve,” he said. Her eyes opened, and she wrinkled her nose at him.
    “It’s good, but it isn’t that good,” she said.
    “Really?” he asked, lifting his glass and taking a sip for himself. His taste buds were overwhelmed with a symphony of tastes. It stole across him like a ray of moonlight, and he almost felt the coolness of an evening breeze along an ocean. The taste was rich and full, and as it matured in his mouth he could feel sparkles of sensation washing down along his spine. His loins tightened in response, and he felt himself harden slightly. He opened his eyes.
    “I think you should take another sip,” he said, meeting her gaze. “It really is good.”
    She took another sip, and her eyes closed again.
    She didn’t moan this time, but a becomingly pink flush stole across her face, and her breath quickened.
    “Okay, it is pretty good,” she sad, opening her eyes and giving him a sheepish look.
    “What is this stuff, anyway? It’s not like any wine I’ve ever tasted.”
    “I told you,” he said softly. “It’s the Emperor’s private reserve. It’s made by a group of monks sworn to the Goddess, and the last five hundred years they’ve only produced 31
    Joanna Wylde
    a thousand bottles a year. The emperor has first bid on it, of course. Some say it’s an aphrodisiac.”
    “So how did you get it?” she demanded.
    “That’s my little secret,” he replied with a smile. “Why don’t you try your food?”
    She looked at him a moment longer, suspicion in her eyes. He could tell she didn’t believe him about the wine, which made it all the more fun to see the surprise in her face when she took another sip.
    She reached down, and hesitantly cut into the mushroom. He followed suit, careful to watch her face as she took a bite.
    “Oh, Goddess,” she said. “This is almost melting in my mouth. Where did you get these? They don’t taste like they’ve been in storage at all, but I know you didn’t buy them at on Transit Three. And we’re a long way from Gnoscanny.”
    Now she had surprised him.
    “You’ve had Gnoscan mushrooms before?” he asked. “Not many people have.”
    She nodded and turned away for a second. Then she turned back to him and took a generous gulp of her wine. It didn’t hit her as hard this time, but she flushed and stayed silent for a moment.
    “I can see how a person could get addicted to this stuff,” she said slowly. “It really has a way of making you feel better about things. I used to have Gnoscan mushrooms all the time. I grew them myself.”
    “Really?” he asked, startled. “It takes a pretty sophisticated biosphere set up to grow them. No offense, but I have trouble seeing how you could afford something like that on a waitress’ income.”
    She shook her head and laughed, but this time the sound came out bitter.
    “They grow wild on Hector Prime,” she said, her face growing wistful. “I used to live there. I had my own bar, actually. Of course, it’s gone now.”
    He nodded his head slowly, remembering. Hector Prime’s surface had been destroyed by Imperials several months after the cease-fire. They’d claimed it had been an intelligence error, a mistake of planet-wide magnitude. Millions had died, including the cream of the Imperial academic community specializing in biology.
    “You’re Saurellian, aren’t you?” she asked. “I haven’t met many of your kind, but I think I recognized the facial features. Or kind of recognize them. It’s hard to tell with your scar, but the coloring is right.”
    “Yes,” he replied, not quire sure where she was going with this.